Matt Rees: For one thing, Sharon didn't send a warning to the Palestinians beforehand to vacate the buildings. Rocketing empty buildings had been counterproductive for Barak in terms of the Israeli public, because people were saying the price of killing Israelis was a few desks and chairs. Then again, Sharon did launch the attacks at night, when the buildings would be mostly empty except for a guard or two.
But Sharon is also saying this strike was part of a strategy which is different from Barak's. Whenever Barak launched an attack, he waited for Arafats position to change. Sharon says hes going to keep going, escalating pressure on Arafat until the Palestinian leader agrees to start talking about a cease-fire. He plans to launch bombing attacks, and then escalate to assassinations while continuing the bombing, and then escalate to sealing off villages and conducting house to house searches while continuing bombing and assassinations. It has what you may call a Middle Eastern tough-mindedness about it, and a lot Israelis are more comfortable with that than with Barak's tactics of issuing ultimatums which were constantly ignored.
Despite the tough talk and the power of the Israeli military, can they afford diplomatically and politically to implement that strategy? After all, that's what has held them back — Sharon even waited for the Arab League summit to conclude before launching these strikes
Yes, he wanted to save the Americans the embarrassment of having to veto a U.N. resolution for an international protection force right after a bombing attack on Palestinian targets. But the Israelis are saying the intensity of their campaign will be measured in relation to the intensity of the suicide bombings and other attacks. In Hebron, in particular, Sharon is under pressure from settlers there to retake the Abu Sneineh hill from which sniper fire killed a ten-month-old girl. Israels security service is concerned that if Sharon is not seen to be responding strongly, one of the settlers will turn around and pull a Baruch Goldstein, a terrorist action against Palestinians that would create a lot more of an unpredictable and dangerous situation than Sharons bombing. Another option Sharon is weighing is whether to allow Jews back onto the Temple Mount for the first time since the intifadah. Some security advisers are saying this will help defuse settler anger; others are saying it will further inflame the Palestinians. And even many Israelis who supported the peace process and opposed Sharon support the strikes on Arafat's Force 17, feeling that they have been betrayed by Arafat.
So what does Israel want from Arafat?
A cease-fire. They don't particularly want negotiations right now. They know it may take Arafat a while to reassert the kind of control he had before the intifadah, but right now his security people are not working on Hamas at all. And many of his own personnel are engaged in shooting attacks.
But why would Arafat want to stop the violence if he's not going to get political negotiations?
Perhaps because he's unlikely to get an international force to protect Palestinians, he may accept the idea of a cease-fire. The other option is to stoke things up to the point that theres so much military against Palestinians that his chances improve of getting an international force.